Rahul blows poll bugle in Uttarakhand

Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi tries to
shake hands with supporters after a party rally
 at the parade ground in Dehradun on Friday.

Dehradun, December 23   

Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi launched a scathing attack on the Uttarakhand BJP government over corruption at a massive party rally held at the historic parade ground to kickstart the election campaign for the coming Assembly elections in the state.

Countering the campaign of Uttarakhand Chief Minister BC Khanduri, who has been harping on curbing corruption, Rahul Gandhi compared Uttarakhand with Karnataka in corruption. “Both states are in competition in corruption and the competition is which of the two can loot the most,” he said.

Talking about the various alleged scandals that took place during the present BJP rule, Rahul Gandhi said a lot of money was sent by the Union Government to the state for the Mahakumbh mela held in 2010 but the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report had indicted the state government.

Similarly, he pointed towards the scandal in the allotment of hydro-electric projects where a single company was allotted 14 projects. He also mentioned about the Citurgia land use change scandal in Rishikesh, a decision which was taken back by the state government due to the fear of adverse decision in the high court.

He said after his removal as Chief Minister, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank was made a national vice-president of the BJP.

“There is no dearth of money in the country as seen in the past and the Central Government has been pumping in money to the state government but there are ‘thieves’ around,” he said. “The money does not belong to Central or the state governments. It is peoples’ money. Is it reaching the common people?” he asked.

Rahul Gandhi said the opposition parties were talking about corruption but it was the UPA government that brought the path-breaking Right to Information Act.

“Earlier, only a few, including the Chief Minister, MPs and bureaucrats, were privy to the information but after the Right to Information Act, each and every citizen has the right to get information,” he said.

“It is through the Right to Information Act that corruption is being exposed in the country,” he claimed.

Highlighting the achievements of the UPA government, the Congress leader said it was the UPA government led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that had launched a guaranteed employment scheme like MANREGA for the poor of the country.

He also mentioned about the Right to Education Act for each and every child in the country and the Food Security Bill being introduced in Parliament to provide cheap food to a majority of the population.

He said during the previous Congress rule, the state of Uttarakhand made rapid progress and was number one state in the country but it had now slipped to the third place.

Mentioning about Uttar Pradesh where he is spearheading the party’s election campaign, Rahul said Uttar Pradesh was backward but Uttarakhand had been bestowed with all bounties of nature and resources. “Some of the best educational institutions are here, the best human resource is available here and has the potential to become an education hub like California,” he added.

He said having everything in the state, the people only lacked a proper government. He appealed to the people of the state to vote for the Congress so that a government that could work for the “Aam Aadmi” could be formed in Uttarakhand for overall development of the state.

Senior state Congress leaders, including state Congress chief Yashpal Arya, Union Minister of State for Agriculture, Food Processing and Parliamentary Affairs Harish Rawat, Party MPs, Satpal Maharaj, Vijay Bahuguna, Pardeep Tamta and KC Singh Baba, was present at the rally along with Birender Singh, Congress general secretary in charge of Uttarakhand affairs.